Four Dead Ramones

Let me tell you how I do this.

I work on inspiration. And when it comes, the words flow out of me, and that's when it's best. I know when I do something great, which is difficult to achieve, a mountain I am always trying to climb, if anybody tells you they don't know what is great, chances are they are not a great artist.

I couldn't write yesterday. I was booked all day. I had a podcast and then the nutritionist and another doctor and then I had to drive downtown for dinner and a gig. Actually, in stop and go traffic on the 10, I was listening to Trump in New Mexico, on Fox. I was inspired to write then too. Because if you only listen to Trump, he's pretty convincing. And it's definitely not boilerplate, he's making it up as he goes, so you don't get bored. But needless to say, I can't write in my car.

Dinner was interesting. The manager of Slipknot and a guy who runs rock for Apple. We ultimately discussed politics, that's where the conversation goes these days. We were brought together by Jason Flom, to see his act Counterfeit at the Moroccan Lounge. We actually got there ten minutes late, service at the restaurant was slow. But from the moment I arrived, I got it. You know right away. First it was the melody, the old tracks I'd listened to online were more noise, more punk. And the frontman was a good one. And the girls adored him. The new album was cut by Rob Cavallo. Can rock make a comeback? That's what's Flom's fighting for.

And after discussing skiing with the aforementioned manager in his Land Cruiser, I drove home. But the map app said to take the 110 to the 10 to the 405. I'd been planning on stopping at the Shell station on Van Nuys Boulevard, but suddenly I wasn't going that way. And I really had to pee. So I told myself I'd fill up tomorrow, i.e. today, but then I remembered my radio show so I stopped at the 76 in Bel-Air, which is overpriced, but I had no choice. And after reading Mike Isaac's book on Uber, I retired, and when I woke up Amazon had gone CD quality. I was inspired to write something, but I did not have the time. How could Amazon catch Spotify and Apple flat-footed? Spotify is so busy trying to make the numbers work, primarily with non-music content, that they stopped pushing the envelope. As for Apple, it's a me-too company in music, there is no innovation. And now Amazon is offering an upgrade for much less than Tidal and Deezer, absolutely killing Tidal. Amazon is the sleeper, it's always the sleeper. Give 'em time and they'll catch up and then surpass you. Apple ceded voice to Amazon, Siri was first, Alexa now dominates.

So I drove to the shrink and Howard was going on about paying your dues, staying in school, hard work paying dividends.

And when I got back at 12:20 I had to answer the urgent e-mail and call to schedule some appointments and by time I got ready to write about Amazon's new music tier, I couldn't, like I said, I do it on inspiration, and I wasn't, inspired that is.

And I thought if I wrote about Ric Ocasek at all, it would be Wednesday, because I had to go do my radio show in Hollywood and I have dinner at 7:15.

But suddenly, I was inspired. I found an entry point. And when I turned on the music (Deezer HiFi actually), I was astounded how good it sounded, and I got into a trance, listening and writing, which is what I like to do most.

But suddenly, the clock was ticking. I looked up at the corner of my Mac, I was gonna have to leave to do my radio show. That's live, I cannot be late.

So I'm writing and I think there are four dead Ramones, but wanting to make sure, I do a quick Safari search. And whether it was misinformation or I read the page wrong it looked like maybe one Ramone was still alive, I told myself I'd check in the rewrite.

Now I reread/rewrite twice. I change almost nothing, I'll explain why sometime, but I've learned if I change anything, I ruin it, I'm just looking for obvious mistakes, lack of a word, a misspelling, and then...

I realize I probably can't do the second reread. I'm up against a hard deadline. I ultimately rush through it.

And since I've got dinner at 7:15 in Brentwood, I've got to send this Ric Ocasek missive before I leave for the radio show, otherwise I won't have a short window to write about Amazon.

Now it's getting really late, the software is running slowly. I'm running on sheer adrenaline. I didn't have time to check the Ramones again and...

I was wrong.

Now I wouldn't e-mail someone about this little mistake, but I do admit, I would judge someone if they made this mistake, so when I got to SiriusXM and I picked up my phone, my heart sank, I'd been bitten by the deadline.

And I was gonna let it slide, but the corrections kept pouring in.

So I thought of writing this.

But then I wouldn't be able to write about Amazon.

And right now I'm rushing because I have to make dinner!

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